Refractive Surgery

At Noble Vision Center, we provide comprehensive care to meet the vision needs of our patients. As an optometrist, Dr. Natalie Noble offers pre- and post-operative care for patients undergoing LASIK eye surgery or other eye surgical procedures. Our goal is to help you attain the clearest vision possible using advanced technologies.

Evaluation and Referral

LASIK (laser assisted in situ keratomileusis) surgery uses that latest advancements in technology to provide faster recovery times and precise results. LASIK surgery has been effective in treating myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and other eye conditions. At Noble Vision Center, we provide evaluations and referrals for patients interested in LASIK surgery. Dr. Noble performs a complete review of your patient history as well as a full assessment of your eye health and vision. A current exam is important to determining if you are a candidate for LASIK surgery and if there are any other factors that may affect your results. The history review enables our optometrist to determine if your prescription is stable and you are healthy enough to consider surgery.

Once Dr. Noble has performed the evaluation and determined whether you are a candidate for LASIK, you will be given a referral to the LASIK surgery center we have worked with on an ongoing basis. The center will perform advanced diagnostic testing and will evaluate your eligibility for surgery. Various surgery options will be discussed with you if you are determined to be a surgical candidate. We will be in correspondence with the center regarding your evaluation and surgical determination. If you are considering LASIK surgery, call us at 724-837-1240 to schedule a consultation.

Post-Operative Care

Once your surgery is scheduled, we will schedule follow-up appointments for you in our Greensburg office. Typically, you will begin these follow-ups the day after the surgery and continue at prearranged times over the following six months. After 1 year, a full exam is recommended to determine the long-term results of your procedure. Dr. Noble is experienced in working with patients pre- and post-operation and will answer any questions that you have along the way. If you have questions about LASIK surgery, call 724-837-1240 to speak with our knowledgeable staff or email us.

Advantages of LASIK

If you have worn glasses or contact lenses for a long time, you may have wondered if LASIK surgery is a good choice for you. While not everyone is a candidate for LASIK, it does have some great advantages. People who play sports, have allergies, or who are looking for simplicity will all benefit from LASIK. To learn more about LASIK and your vision, call Noble Vision Center today at 724-837-1240.

Eyeglasses have been a traditional solution for correcting vision problems for many centuries. When contact lenses arrived on the scene, they offered a new practical solution for restoring vision. Now an increasing number of eye surgery options have displaced glasses or contacts as the only solutions for healthy vision.

Eye Surgery Evolution

Advanced technology has made it possible to reshape eyes and restore vision to healthy levels for many people from all walks of life. Surgical techniques and tools have rapidly evolved over the past two decades to create procedures that are both safe and helpful.

Corrective surgeries for eyes now include everything from using lasers to reshape the cornea surface to inserting artificial lenses. These procedures correct how light entering the eye is processed – leading to much sharper vision in patients.

The state of the cornea is a determining factor in these surgeries. Thinner corneas with a high degree of myopia, for example, usually require a more invasive surgery to reshape the eye surface enough to improve vision.

Types of Eye Surgeries

Laser correction surgeries offer a snapshot of evolution in eye surgeries. Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) became the first successful surgery to change the shape of the cornea through removing tissue. The FDA approved PRK in 1995 and it is still widely used early in the 21st Century. With PRK, it only takes a few days for vision improvements to be realized.

LASIK followed on the heels of PRK. It involves cutting a thin flap in the outer covering of the eye to reshape the cornea. Unlike PRK, it only takes a few hours to gain sharper vision with LASIK surgery. There is some risk of suffering dry eye and other complications such as halos around bright lights until the flap fully heals. LASIK can be done with the aid of a mechanical cutting tool, using all lasers or incorporating wavefront technology that measures how light hits the eye.

Nearsighted patients are not alone in benefiting from surgeries. Farsightedness can be corrected through Conductive Keratoplasty (CK). It uses a small probe and low heat radio waves to create spots around the cornea periphery. CK steepens the cornea to give patients better near vision.

Some eye surgeries require implanting new artificial lenses to produce vision improvements. Implantable lenses similar to contact lenses can correct more severe levels of nearsightedness. These artificial lenses go permanently over the natural lens on the eye. Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE) takes it a step further and replaces the natural lens with an artificial lens of a different shape. RLE is done to correct extreme farsightedness.

Eye Surgery Considerations

Our eyes change as we age, so some corrective surgeries are not a good option for everyone. People under 18, for example, are not good candidates for laser eye surgeries because their eyes change rapidly as their bodies are growing.

Health also factors into eye surgeries. If you have diabetes or other medical conditions that impact eyesight, certain eye surgeries may pose serious risks.